Recipes / Discussions on cooking from Team-BHP Master Chefs

This is a discussion on Recipes / Discussions on cooking from Team-BHP Master Chefs within Shifting gears, part of the Around the Corner category; Originally Posted by Aroy
I would use it without the pressure weight. ...
Attachment 1148253
Dada, <drool> that pic is ...

Dada, <drool> that pic is sooo tempting I feel like picking up some hot tandoori rotis and landing up at your doorstep!!!

I think we can replicate the same with the weight. 1 whistle, and then flame to minimum for the next 45-50 minutes. The heat loss will keep the temperature at a far lesser value in the vessel, though the whistle will blow once every 10 min or so.

Quote:

Originally Posted by khoj

... Maida + yeast also gives Khameer wala atta and this was traditionally used to make naan. The dough needs to rest for sometime before being rolled, however now almost all eateries from roadside to 5* make do with plain maida, guess the Khameer takes too much time and effort.

You are right - most uncaring joints do it with plain unleavened maida to cut short the time, although a good cook will prove the dough till the springiness goes away. Good restaurants do use yeast. One can make out the difference when the naan cools. Unleavened dough results in a leathery tough texture. Leavened dough leaves it soft but easily tearable. The best naans I have eaten have actually been in Indian restaurants in Japan - that is because they follow the recipes punctiliously. Japanese won't tolerate bad quality, and the restaurant will be left with no customers if they cut corners.

Ah, Khameer wala atta!!! My sister and I used to fight with each other in childhood when mother would make rotis with leftover dough in summer. Soft, slightly sour. Oh man, it takes me back decades, and still causes my salivary glands to go into overdrive. Of course, Khameer wala atta is leavened by natural yeast, which makes most foodstuff go bad and milk turn sour at warm room temperature. Leavening dough with active or dry yeast doesn't result in the same flavor.

The western equivalent is Sourdough, in which successive batches are made with left over dough from previous batches used as starters. Try good Sourdough in US and compare with other artisanal breads - you will catch the difference. In India, all arty-farty bakeries pass off plain vanilla added-yeast bread as Sourdough. That is even worse than Naan made from unleavened dough, and that too at a premium price.

Adding Baking powder / soda to flour leavens the flour in a different way, without fermenting the flour. The result is therefore more cakey - biscuity!

Naan in Japan, that is a long way to go but yet another reason in my book to travel to Nippon and then Sourdough bread stateside, seems I better save up for a round the World ticket

Besides the food at home (especially mutton cooked on an "Angeethee" ) some of my fondest foodie child hood memories are of the neighbourhood 'Tandoor'. Growing up in the 70/80s every locality in Dilli used to have them. I would take the dough from home and the guy would churn out piping hot tandoori rotis. If the rotis complete with the dough were bought from the tandoor a bowl of dal was free and then there were the sabzian Aloo tari, Aloo Tamatar, Aloo Mutter, Aloo Gobhi, Aloo Palak and on some days Baingan Bharta. Sadly these establishments are long gone. There still are a few of them here and there but the rapid pace and demands of current times have taken their toll and the taste is no longer there. Apologies for the rant but couldn't help it..

Quote:

Originally Posted by DerAlte

The best naans I have eaten have actually been in Indian restaurants in Japan - that is because they follow the recipes punctiliously. Japanese won't tolerate bad quality, and the restaurant will be left with no customers if they cut corners.

Ah, Khameer wala atta!!! My sister and I used to fight with each other in childhood when mother would make rotis with leftover dough in summer. Soft, slightly sour. Oh man, it takes me back decades, and still causes my salivary glands to go into overdrive.

Try good Sourdough in US and compare with other artisanal breads - you will catch the difference. In India, all arty-farty bakeries pass off plain vanilla added-yeast bread as Sourdough. That is even worse than Naan made from unleavened dough, and that too at a premium price.

... My idea is to mix soya sauce and some demera sugar with lemon juice and ginger. ...

That is close to the original Chilly Chicken (not the Andhra vareity, but the Chinese one).

* Deseed green chillies if you only want the flavor and not the heat (especially if your daughter is to eat it). Take out the zest of the lemon
* Marinate for a couple of hours with soya sauce (thin with water if it is really dark and treacly), julienned green chillies, garlic and ginger
* Fry a star anise in a bit of gingelly oil, and then the chicken pieces (just to seal them)
* Add the marinade. Add a bit of the d-sugar and the lemon zest. Simmer till the liquids reduce a bit. Check if the chicken is cooked and take off heat
* Add the lemon juice the last

Quote:

Originally Posted by khoj

... I would take the dough from home and the guy would churn out piping hot tandoori rotis. ... demands of current times have taken their toll and the taste is no longer there. ...

Sigh! I did that in the 60's and 70's. Mother would send the paraat with just the flour. The tandoor wala would make the dough and then the chappaties - 'chhand ke' (IIRC) used to be the term for crisp on the outside, soft on the inside! I learnt making dough from those guys, so some days I would make the dough. I wrote somewhere some time back - that aroma of fresh baked rotis evokes Pavlovian responses in us. "Dal roti khao, prabhu ke gun gao".

We used to buy the dal - ma-ki-dal, ma-chhole-ki-dal and the five-mix one. Slow cooked on the remnant heat of the tandoor for 6 hours after the lunch stuff was done. Can't replicate those. Today tandoor is all about chicken and kababs. Tandoors used to be primarily vegetarian places in those days. Non-veg used to be Sunday affairs - start cooking at 9, eat at 2!

Quote:

Originally Posted by khoj

... Apologies for the rant but couldn't help it.

That's a reminiscence, not a rant! God bless you - may your tribe increase.

My idea is to mix soya sauce and some demera sugar with lemon juice and ginger.

Add some water to it and cook a chicken breast immersed in this over medium heat in a thick pan.

I have never used soya sauce before and am wondering if this will work.

. Use Soya sauce as a marinade. Add a bit of garlic paste and some lime juice. Cut the breasts thin - about 5mm thick. Let them marinate as long as it can (any where from 2 to 24 hours).
. If you have a grilling pan use it else a frying pan will do
. Put a bit of sesame oil on each breast piece and fry it for about 2-3 min per side. The trick is to monitor the breasts and the moment the sides turn white from pink flip them over and do them for another couple of minutes.

Please note that the breast remains soft for a short time, after that if cooked further it will turn fibrous and then hard.

Quote:

Originally Posted by driverace

Senior Chefs,
Debut chef onboard

...@Shrimps done today:
Just a couple o them - I didn't quite believe were "fresh" enough. Rest were okay.

So - I would like to receive a few tips on buying & understanding - fresh shrimp (particularly).

Also, planning on going for Crab shopping in a couple of hours *slurp*

Any advice on that would be appreciated (highly!)

Thank you,

Ace.

. Fresh shrimps should have a firm body, bright eyes and have no "fishy" smell. Hold them by the tail and give a jerk. If the head falls off it is not fresh.
. My favourite recipe is to marinade the shrimps in salt, garlic and lemon juice. Keep it for one hour. Then either fry them in butter or microwave them in a container with lid. Cook the shrimps to a point where the colour changes from translucent to white. That is the point when the shrimp will just melt in your mouth. Do not over cook, else you will tend to get rubbery meat.

. Crabs have to be bought live. Poke one, if it moves briskly then it is the best.
. The best and the most humane method of cooking crab (and lobsters) is to put them in freezer for 1/2 hour or so. Then drop the frozen crab in boiling water. Once the colour of the shell changes to bright pink/red take it out.
. Look up the Net to identify the gills and other parts of the crab that must be discarded.
. To extract the meat you need a lot of patience. The meat; apart from the claws; is in a honey comb of extremely thin shell. Use small tweezers and tooth pick to extract the meat, or else if you are feeling lazy just chew the stuff up. The yield in most of the crabs is quite dismal around 5-6% by weight. That is why when you need a lot of crab meat it is wiser to buy frozen shelled crab in packets. I recently came across a 1/2 kg packet in Nature's Basket for Rs.900, which is a steal.

For those interested in bread making, here are photographs of my bread making effort on the third of this month.

Roy Sir ,

Baking has always confused me . Being new to baking and world of microwave, i am confused between various modes in a MW . Which Mode should One choose for bread baking ( Convection / micro or conve + Grill) . Has these Buttons only on my LG MW .

Also Sourcing yeast is proving to be a task to me. kirana wala Do not understand Yeast and I do not know what it's called locally in delhi .

Baking has always confused me . Being new to baking and world of microwave, i am confused between various modes in a MW . Which Mode should One choose for bread baking ( Convection / micro or conve + Grill) . Has these Buttons only on my LG MW .

Also Sourcing yeast is proving to be a task to me. kirana wala Do not understand Yeast and I do not know what it's called locally in delhi .

I do baking in a Gas Oven. You will have to try it in an OTG. Baking requires external heat. MW will normally heat the dough internally and it may dry it out.

You can buy yeast in 10g packets at most Delhi Markets, but for regular use it is extremely expensive at Rs.20 or more for the packet. I get my 500g bulk pack from INA market for around Rs.250/

The Internet is the best place to search for baking recipes and methods. You may even get to know how to bake bread in MW

Aroy, these loaves look lovely!
Wish you'd post a close up of the crumb also.

I bake them with a dish of water (as suggested by veteran french cooks on the net) to get a lovely crusts. The crust is hard while the bread is soft inside. In fact hot bread off the oven is heavenly especially with oodles of butter. One of the loaves always finishes before the lot has time to cool down.

Procedure:
1. Boil soya nuggets in a karahi.
2. Drain all water after boiling the nuggets and set them aside.
3. In the meanwhile, cut slices of potatoes, capsicum, tomato and onions.
4. After draining the nuggets, place them in a separate vessel and put 3-4 tbsp refined oil and put it on medium flame.
5. Cut small pieces of green chillies and fry them followed by onions till they turn brown(ish).
6. Add chopped potatoes and add some salt for aiding the cooking process. Cover the
karahi wid a lid.
7. Cook for 5-7 min on medium flame and then the potatoes start getting soft. Add turmeric and red chilli powder and stir the mixture well.
8. Cook for 2-3 min.
9. Add all the 3 sauces to the karahi now. For reference, I used the sauce bottles cap for measurement. Tomato sauce - 4-5 caps, soya - 2 caps and chill - 2 caps.
10. Add boiled soya nuggets and mix the entire thing well. Add a little salt as per requirements and cook for 5 min.
11. One may add pudina/dhaniya leaves later while serving.
Max time needed - 45 to 50 min

I ate it in a hurry but I could feel that I pulled it out well.
I request experts to suggest if I can do something to improve upon the taste or something!

..
. Fresh shrimps should have a firm body, bright eyes and have no "fishy" smell. Hold them by the tail and give a jerk. If the head falls off it is not fresh.
...

. Crabs have to be bought live. Poke one, if it moves briskly then it is the best.
. The best and the most humane method of cooking crab (and lobsters) is to put them in freezer for 1/2 hour or so. Then drop the frozen crab in boiling water. Once the colour of the shell changes to bright pink/red take it out.
. ...
That is why when you need a lot of crab meat it is wiser to buy frozen shelled crab in packets. I recently came across a 1/2 kg packet in Nature's Basket for Rs.900, which is a steal.

Thanks a ton for these buying tips!
-Also, will try out your recipes (coming weekend!)

Pune chefs, can anyone help me with the 'best' source/market for sea food?